Safety appliance for vehicles.



H 0. JOHNSON. SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR VEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED MAY 21,1914.

Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

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'HE NORRIS PETERS CQ. HHLHu-Lunuu WASHINGTON. D. C.

H. O. JOHNSON.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. 1914.

1,129,985,, Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

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INVENTOR. WITNESSES.- H m Jgkfidmfl gQwM W 6% ATTOR THE NORRIS PETERS50.. PHOTC-LITHO. WASHINGTON D. c.

HANS O. JOHNSON, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY APPLIANCE m. VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. a, 11915.

Application filed ma 21, 1914. Serial no. seaese.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hens O. JoHNsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State ofOalifornia,'have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SafetyAppliances for Vehicles; and I do declare the following to be a clear,full, and exact description of the same, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in safety appliances for vehiclesand is particularly adapted to street cars and automobiles.

The object of the invention is to produce a device which may be readilyattached to the front of'a vehicle and when not in use, folded up out'ofthe way.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposesfor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of the parts as will fully appear by a perusal of thefollowing specification and claims.

On the drawings, similar, characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the appliance. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation showing the appliance in folded position. Fig. 3 is a top planview of the same showing the appliance in extended position. Fig. 4 is'a sectional view, partly broken out, of the roller. Fig. 5 is anenlarged end view of the supporting brackets showing the relativepositions of the parts supported thereby.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numeral 1 designates the frame or other convenient part ofthe vehicle to which my improved appliance may be attached.

The numeral 2 designates a bracket and the numeral 3 the clamps forfastening the bracket 2 to the frame 1. Slidable upon the bracket 2 is amember 4 provided with a set screw 5 for holding the same in any desiredposition.

Adjustable in the members 4 are rods 6 which are held in position by setscrews 7. F astened to each of the rods 6 is a member 8 provided with alug 10. A lug 9 is provided upon one of the said members 8. The lugs 10provide bearings for the shaft 11 upon which is mounted a roller 12which carries a fabric 13. To the members 8 are fastened arms 14pivotally mounted on pins 15 and connected to the said arms 14 are arms16 pivotally mounted upon pins 15*. Near the ends of each of the arms 16a cross memberl? is pivotally mounted upon pins 18, the fabric 13 beingconnected tothe said member 17.

On the arm 16 I provide a shoulder 19 which, when the arm is in extendedposition, as shown in Fig. 3, will come into contact with a pin 20integral with the arm 14. I provide on the member 8 a shoulder 21 which,when the arm 14 is extended as shown in Fig. 3, will come into contactwith a pin 22 integral with the member 8, thus forming a stop for saidarm.

A spring 23 is mounted on the pin 15, one end of which is fastened tothe member 8 and the other end to the arm 14, the action of which tendsto throw the arm 14 outwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, when the ratchet 24is released by a pawl 25. At the same time a spring 26 will act to throwthe arm 16 outwardly until the shoulder 19 has come into contact withthe pin 20, as shown in Fig. 3.

F astened to the shaft 11 of the roller 12 is a ratchet 24 in engagementwith which is a pawl 25 pivotally mounted on a pin 27 provided with aspring 28 which holds the pawl in contact with the ratchet 24. Torelease the ratchet 24 from said pawl 25, I have provided integral withthe pawl 25 a pin 29 working in a slot 29 under which pin 29 projects anarm 30 on the end of a shaft 31 pivoted on the lug 9 of the member 8. Onthe opposite end of the shaft 31 is an arm 32 to which is secured anysuitable connection 33 running to a lever 34 mounted on the dashboard 35of the vehicle.

To extend the appliance, pressure is exerted upon the lever 34 therebyreleasing the pawl 25 from the ratchet 24 so that each of the springs 23and 26 will throw the respective arms 14 and 16 outwardly as shown. Thisaction of the springs is made possible by reason of the fact that inrolling up the fabric'13 the tension of each of the said springs isincreased to the maximum-point since the turning in of the arms upon thepins 15 and18 acts to wind up the springs 23 and 26. With the outwardmovement of the arms ll and 16, the cross member 17 which is pivoted tothe arms 16, Will likewise be carriedoutward, thus unrolling the fabric13. The object of this is to overcome any tendency of the arms to doubleup when the member 17 comes intocontactjwith a heavybody.

' T0 fold the appliance after it has been eXtended a crank or key isattached to the square end 3.6 of the shaft 11 and rotated until theappliance is ina position as shown in Fig. 2. The spring, 37 is providedto workagainst the rotation of the roller 12,

I thereby holding the fabric 13 always tight adapted foruse on thefrontend of auto- ,of vehicle found desirable.

and aiding in re-rolling the same. Thedevice, as w llbe noted, isespeclally mobiles, street cars or in fact any other, form It is notcontinuously extended as are the ordinary fenderslo'r; bumpers nowcommonly used on vehicles, but is normally rolled up in closed position,outof the way and is not unsightly norj particularlyin the way when notin use. NVhen the operator of the vehicle, however, see'sthat anaccident or collision wlth any person 'or other object is funavoid able,he

can instantly throw the safety appliance into operative position bymerely stepping on or touching the controllever 34. This releasesthe'parts and throws the arms 1a and 16 to extended position, carryingwith them' the bar 17 and unrolling thefabric 13.

' Byrea'son of thelfaet that the device is not continuously extended, itcan under these last named conditions'be extended to a point immediatelyadjacent the ground, and for that reason the structure will be positivein its action in engaging the person orobiect described, which person orobject will drop onto the fabric 13 instead of being run down and overby {the wheels of the vehicle. Then, when the necessity of the use ofthe structure is passed, the arms 14 and 16 are folded slightly inwardlyto allow of the retracting ,do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention.

.Havmgthus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent 1s ,1. A device of the characterdescribed comprising the combination wlth a vehicle,

[of brackets mounted thereon, a roller rotatably mounted in saidbrackets, means for locking said roller against rotation, spring pressedarms pivotally mounted on said brackets and capable of extendingoutwardly therefrom and being folded inwardly in the same plane, afabric mounted on said roller and secured to said arms and means forreleasing said locking means, as described.

2. A device of the character described comprising the combination witlra vehicle,

of, brackets mounted thereon, a roller rotatably mounted in saidbrackets, means for locking said roller against rotation, a pair ofspring pressed arms pivotally mounted on "said brackets, another pair ofspring pressed arms pivotally mounted on the outer ends of said firstnamed arms, all of said arms being adapted to be folded inwardly in thesame plane, a cross bar pivotally connected to the outer end of saldsecond named arms, afabric mounted on said roller and connected withsaid cross bars, and means for releasing said locking means, asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

.HANS O. JOHNSON. Witnesses JOSHUA B. lVEBsTER,

FLOYD M. BLANOHARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, 7 f Washington,D.G.

